Saturday, November 14, 2015

#95 Archaea

Probably most of you have never heard of Archaea. I had
never heard of them either until just recently. In fact, the world had never heard of
them until they were discovered in 1977.

The Archaea constitute a domain or
kingdom of single-celled microorganisms. These microbes are prokaryotes,
meaning that they have no cell nucleus or any other membrane-bound organelles
in their cells.

Classification is difficult because
the majority have not been studied in the laboratory and have only been
detected by analysis of their nucleic acids in samples from their environment.
[1]

Before 1977 they had always been considered a type of
bacteria. But then microbiologist Carl Woese was able to recognize that they
were very different from bacteria.

"He had stumbled on a brave
new world of microbes that looked like bacteria to our eyes, but were in fact
so unique biochemically and physically that they have ultimately proved to be
more closely related to us than to them. He had stumbled on an entirely new
form of life, right here on Earth." [2]

Being a believer in the Theory of Evolution, he concluded
that back at the beginning of Darwin’s Tree of Life, there must have been an
early split. Bacteria went one way and Archaea and all other life went the
other way. Of course Archaea was so primitive, not even having a cell nuclei, it
had to have branched off from the Tree of Life itself at the very beginning.

So Woese came up with an all new branch and thus there are
now three major branches off of Darwin’s Tree of Life. Evolutionists don’t
really give an explanation for whatever it was that came before these three
branches.

To get a better idea of some of the differences between
Archaea and bacteria, one good website is WiseGeek. Here is just one point of
many.

“Archaea and bacteria are both
single-celled microorganisms known as prokaryotes but this is one of the few
things they have in common. Even though they both look vaguely similar when
viewed through a microscope, each represents a completely different group of
creatures. In fact, archaea differ from bacteria as much as humans do, in terms
of their biochemistry and genetic structure. Archaea and bacteria have
different cell membranes and cell structures, and archaea are found in extreme
environments where most bacteria could not survive.” [3]

It turns out that Archaea are totally everywhere on the
earth. In fact they make up as much as 20% of the biomass of all living things
even though they are microscopic in size. “Archaea are particularly numerous in
the oceans, and the archaea in plankton may be one of the most abundant groups
of organisms on the planet.” [4]

They come in all shapes and sizes. Some are totally
different from each other and do the exact opposite thing biochemically. Here
is an example.

“Archaea carry out many steps in
the nitrogen cycle. This includes both reactions that remove nitrogen from
ecosystems (such as nitrate-based respiration and denitrification) as well as
processes that introduce nitrogen (such as nitrate assimilation and nitrogen
fixation).” [5]

See my Proof for God #48 Nitrogen Cycle for more information
on that.

"To our surprise, we have
found super-sized filamentous archaea almost big enough to see with the naked
eye living on mangrove roots. We have found methanogenic archaea that interact
with protozoa in the guts of cows and termites to help these organisms break
cellulose down for energy. We've even found an archaeon that lives
symbiotically with -- of all things -- a sponge." [6]

Here are four excerpts from Wikipedia that show the
extremely important roles that Archaea play in maintaining all life on earth.

“Researchers recently discovered
Archaean involvement in ammonia oxidation reactions. These reactions are
particularly important in the oceans.

“The archaea also appear crucial
for ammonia oxidation in soils. They produce nitrite, which other microbes then
oxidize to nitrate. Plants and other organisms consume the latter.

“In the carbon cycle, methanogen
archaea remove hydrogen and play an important role in the decay of organic
matter by the populations of microorganisms that act as decomposers in
anaerobic ecosystems, such as sediments, marshes and sewage-treatment works.

“In the sulfur cycle, archaea that
grow by oxidizing sulfur compounds release this element from rocks, making it
available to other organisms.” [7]

Some researchers believe that we would never have been able
to come to exist on the earth without Archaea. Millions of years ago, the earth
was covered with methane gas. They think it was the type of Archaea that
digests methane that ate it all up or we could never have come along. Even
today some scientists estimate that Archaea convert 300 million tons of methane
per year into more life friendly chemicals.

"Scientists have discovered a
methane metabolizing Archea in the extreme pressures of deep sea sediments. It
is estimated that these bacteria-like organisms consume 300 million tons of
methane each year, which prevent the Earth from turning into a furnace.
According to Kai-Uwe Hinrichs, a biogeochemist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution in Massachusetts and one of the authors of the study, 'If they
hadn't been established at some point in Earth's history, we probably wouldn't
be here.'" [8]

A tremendous amount is NOT known about Archaea. “Current
knowledge on genetic diversity is fragmentary and the total number of archaeal
species cannot be estimated with any accuracy. Estimates of the number of phyla
range from 18 to 23, of which only 8 have representatives that have been
cultured and studied directly.” [9] Here is another such statement. "Consequently,
our understanding of the role of archaea in ocean ecology is rudimentary, so
their full influence on global biogeochemical cycles remains largely
unexplored." [10]

But scientists have been able to learn some things about
their internal makeup, replication, and the biochemical processes they exhibit.

Let’s note here that they do not reproduce sexually. There
are no male and female so it is hard to apply the Theory of Evolution. They do
not have “parents” to give them two different sets of DNA.

So let’s look at some of the questions that Evolutionists
are not going to be able to answer.

If you have read any of my Proofs for God such as #40
Chirality, #21 DNA, #27 The Truth about Mutation, or #35 Natural Selection,
then you are probably already asking yourself some good questions.

In the very beginning for Evolutionists, somehow DNA came to
exist. In the opinion of many scientists, it would be impossible to come into existence
without super-intelligence involved because there is so much order,
information, and design to DNA. But let’s skip over that discussion for this
proof.

Evolutionists were forced to put Archaea and bacteria and
the very bottom of the Tree of Life because they are so primitive. But they are
so different it is impossible to explain that one was the ancestor of the
other, so they don’t. They make separate branches of the tree and leave the
beginning a mystery.

"Molecular handedness --
chirality in chemistry-speak -- is not a thing changed easily by evolution. For
instance, the vast majority of protein building blocks called amino acids used
by life on Earth are exclusively "left-handed". Why? No one really knows,
although some have guesses. Once lefty amino acids took over, though, there was
no going back biochemically -- the enzymes were set up a certain way and that
was that. Thus, that archaeal and bacterial enzymes use glycerols with opposite
handedness implies that bacteria and archaea parted ways long, long ago."
[11]

To mutate from bacteria to Archaea or any other living thing
is impossible to conceive of based on the different handedness of their enzymes.
Remember DNA is a long, long chain of millions, if not billions, of individual
amino acids.

Evolutionists have to believe that enzymes of both
left-handedness and right-handedness somehow developed, once to produce Archaea
and the plant/animal branch and another time to produce bacteria. The odds are
astronomical against an enzyme coming to exist by Evolution even one time. But
two independent times is not even conceivable. And then another miracle has to
happen to produce the third branch of the Tree of Life (plants and animals).

We could stop there, but let’s keep going. Once one Archaea
somehow exists as a fully functioning cell, it has to already contain all the
necessary DNA to be able to replicate itself. (Please read Proof for God #41
The First Living Cell to learn how difficult that is.)

"The majority of its genes
related to energy production, cell division, and metabolism were found to be
most similar to those found in bacteria, while those related to transcription,
translation, and replication were found to be most similar to those found in
eukaryota." [12]

Here’s something else. Archaea hold all the records for
being able to survive in the most extreme environments like hot, cold, acidic,
or salty.

Then from that one very first Archaea, how do you explain
such an extreme diversity of Archaea living in every environment on the earth?
They are single celled organisms so when they multiply they do not have two
parents from which to inherit different DNA. Their DNA somehow makes a copy of
itself and then the cell splits into two “daughter cells” having exactly the same
DNA.

"Archaea replicate asexually
in a process known as binary fission. Archaea achieve a swimming motility via
one or more tail-like flagellae." [13]

They just make a copy of themselves according to their existing
DNA. I will concede that there might be some mutations during copying, but this
is not a process that leads anywhere toward species development. See my Proof
for God # Copying Degradation and my Proof for God # The Truth about Mutation.

Mutation is very rarely beneficial. It usually leads to
death. There’s no hope there for growth and development of many different
phyla.

Archaea live in many such extreme environments that they
could not have evolved there. There are Archaea that are living at 130°C on the
ocean floor next to an active volcano.

"Strain 121 can survive at
temperatures up to 130C and experiments suggest there may be archaeal species
that can tolerate temperatures of 140 to 150C. Lest you forget, water boils at
100C." [14]

There is no oxygen there and the heat destroys all other
living things. How did they get there in the first place and not get destroyed
on the way? How could they adapt to the heat in that environment without being
killed first? If the heat didn’t kill them, how did they get oxygen and energy?
They would have had to evolve the ability to convert compounds in the
environment into oxygen and energy after they arrived there. It’s pretty clear
that they had to be able to survive in that environment before they ever got
there not after they arrived. Survival of the Fittest is totally out of the
realm of possibility.

How about the type of Archaea that can thrive in a totally
acidic environment of pH 0 (zero), comparable to sulfuric acid? All plants and
animals die in acid. Since Evolutionists put Archaea on the Tree of Life, how
do they explain that some type “adapted” into being able to do this? They could
not have adapted once they were in the strong acid environment, no survival of
the fittest because there are no survivors. Even bacteria which Evolutionists
say came earlier on the Tree of Life are killed by acid.

Different types of Archaea also live in extremely alkaline
environments. Some can live in extremely cold environments. Others live in the
soil, the ocean, marshlands, even sewage.

There are even Archaea that live in your stomachs that help
you digest certain types of molecules. We are really lucky that they are there
or we might not survive. That’s a very acidic environment which dissolves
almost everything that comes into it. But not your very own Archaea.

“Methogens such as M. Smithii, the
most abundant methanogenic archaeon in the human gut is an important player in
the digestion of polysaccharides (complex sugars). Methangenic archaea help to
remove excess hydrogen.” [15]

Here’s a neat little sentence with gigantic implications. “Like
bacteria, archaea cell membranes are usually bounded by a cell wall and they
swim using one or more flagella.” [16] How can evolutionists explain one or
more working flagellum on an archaea? That means they have a working tail that
motors them around. A tail takes a lot of engineering. A half evolved tail does
not work. Evolution cannot explain in slow, gradual steps how you get a
flagellum.

Archaea are so tiny that we can’t see them and yet there are
so many that they make up 20% of living things on the planet. There are so many
different kinds of them and they all seem to provide extremely essential
chemical processes for our survival. We’d die without them.

There’s still a lot more to be learned about them, but just
knowing what we know already makes it impossible to believe that they occurred
by random chance or natural selection.

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About Me

Welcome to 101 Proofs For God for the "common man" This Blog was inspired by a prayer where I asked God how I could help Him and experienced a deeply lonely heart for His children. Hopefully my inspirations might tweak your thinking about the things all around you in this world.
Each proof should be just short enough for a 1 to 2 minute read.
May God bless you immensely and may you draw closer to Him every day. - Jim Stephens